Office of Institutional Research
Office of Marketing Communications
The Stylus, SUNY Brockport's Student-run Newspaper
|
Press Releases
For Immediate Release
June 19, 2008
For more information, contact
Virginia Campbell
(585) 395-2754
vcampbel@brockport.edu
Unique Sports Camp for Children with Visual Impairments Includes Exhibition Game at Frontier Field
Camp Slogan: A loss of sight, never a loss of vision
Brockport, NY — The 13th annual Camp Abilities, hosted by The College at Brockport, State University of New York , June 29 – July 5, is a comprehensive developmental sports camp for children who are visually impaired, blind or deaf/blind.
The week-long camp of sports, recreation and just plain fun begins with an opening ceremony June 29, and culminates with a number of campers participating in an exhibition game of beep baseball, opening the Red Wings game at Frontier Field, Friday, July 4, 6:05 pm. The Red Wings will take the field at 7:05 pm. The beep baseball players will be available for autographs after their exhibition game.
At Camp Abilities, children and adolescents with visual impairment, blindness or deaf/blindness are empowered to become active and more productive, participating in such fun activities as beep baseball, judo, archery, track and field, tandem biking, goalball, swimming, fishing and kayaking. The rewarding experiences encourage kids to develop and maintain physical activities for pleasure and fitness, or competition. In addition, it is believed that this experience would help the children to develop the skill necessary to achieve their personal goals in and outside of sports.
Special Guests
This year’s camp will welcome special guest speakers Sharon Barry-Grassick chair of the Board of Deaf/Blind Services for Western Australia; Paul Malloy, who is deaf/blind and who is a licensed service provider with the New York State Technical Assistance Consortium, coordinating services for children who are deaf/blind throughout the state. Colleen Donaldson, grants development officer at The College at Brockport, will be honored during the closing ceremony July 5 with the camp’s Above and Beyond Award, for Donaldson’s support with researching and preparing grant proposals to help fund the camp. Bob and Debbie Ryan, owners of Ryan’s Big N, Brockport, NY, also will be receiving an Above and Beyond Award, for their continuing support of Camp Abilities.
Key Staff
Others who make Camp Abilities a possibility are Hailey Schedlin, a ’05, ’07 graduate of the College, who is the Camp’s assistant director, serving under Founding Director Lauren Lieberman, professor in the Department of Physical Education and Sport. Schedlin has been a part of the Camp for five years. She is the new director of Camp Abilities in Wasilla, AK, beginning July 2008, and also will be assisting with the Maryland camp in August.
Lauren Evans, a 2006 graduate, and Dean Bowen, a 2005 graduate of the College, are Camp Abilities graduate assistants. Both are in the College’s Master’s in Adaptive Physical Education program.
Campers and Counselors
This year’s camp roster includes 53 campers, 90 counselors, including interpreters, specialists in adapted physical education and nurses from 17 universities across the US and from as far away as Brazil, Australia and Puerto Rico.
The volunteers give their time and take advantage of this valuable opportunity to enhance their own skills and knowledge. At Camp Abilities, the counselors learn how to teach sports and recreational activities to children with sensory impairments, and are full participants in helping to make the camp a successful and memorable experience for all.
The Community Pitches In
The camp is made possible by generous donations and support from the community, and the motivated efforts and hard work of the staff and volunteers. Lions Clubs in the 20-E1 section are picking up the tab for many meals during the week. The New York State Commission for the Blind is paying the $700 cost for each camper from New York to attend this special camp. Rick MacDonald from his bike shop Wheels Unlimited in Bath, NY, is lending his services to make sure the tandem bicycles are all tuned up and ready to go. Todd Twitchell, a local dentist, and member of the Kiwanis Club, donated a tent to store the bikes on location. Peter Veronisi, and John and Lynne Gardner lend their boats for the week, and The College at Brockport President John R. Halstead provides his personal dock for their use on the canal. Numerous other donations, large and small, were made by many to make the camp special for these extraordinary kids, including many area merchants.
Important Research Takes Place at Camp Abilities
This year Dr. John Foley from SUNY Cortland will bring his research team to analyze the effect of Dance, Dance Revolution (DDR, which is an activity based video game) on the heart rates of the children with visual impairments. This popular game is available to sighted children and we are trying to determine if the game will have the same benefit for children who are visually impaired.
Last year’s camp saw the development of a running kit, complete with talking pedometers, a walking-with-guide tether, backpack and manual, co-authored by Lieberman and Schedlin, who also is a teacher in the West Irondequoit School District. The project also was done in collaboration with the American Printing House for the Blind, who makes the kits available to parents, teachers and school administrators.
Reasearch from the 2007 Camp Abilities was presented in July last year at the International Federation of Adaptive Physical Activity Conference in San Claro, Brazil, by Lieberman and Pam
Haibach, assistant professor in the Department of Physical Education and Sport at Brockport. The research also was presented at the International Deaf/Blind Conference in Perth, Australia, in October 2007.
Camp History
Lieberman founded Camp Abilities in 1996. Since then, Camp Abilities camps have been established across the nation in Alaska, Maryland, Vermont, Minnesota, Florida, Pennsylvania, Toronto and Arizona, as well as camps in Iowa and Puerto Rico. Lieberman works on the camp year-round, pouring her time and energy into making each year better than the last.
This year with the help of several colleagues, including Cesar Torres, associate professor in the Department of Physical Education and Sport at The College at Brockport, a Camp Abilities was started in Guatemala. This camp will be held again in 2009 with more campers and support in Guatemala City!
Lieberman, a 2005 Chancellor’s Award for Scholarship and Creative Activity recipient — the highest award in the SUNY system — also received the Community Partner Award from the Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired in 2006 for her dedication and instrumental focus on Camp Abilities. She is an influential expert on adapted physical education, an internationally acclaimed speaker, and has published numerous papers, articles and books on the subject.
A complete schedule of week-long and daily activities is attached. To request more information about Camp Abilities or to indicate your interest in visiting the camp and interacting with the campers and staff, contact Lieberman at (585) 395-5361 or see our Web site at www.campabilities.org.
The College at Brockport, State University of New York
350 New Campus Drive * Brockport, New York 14420-2931
(585) 395-2754 * FAX (585) 395-2723 *
www.brockport.edu